Choosing Your Business Structure

Before starting your small business, you'll need to select an ownership structure for your new venture. LLC, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship: There are pros and cons to each and it pays to take the time to read comparisons to learn which one will provide the type of liability protection you want and the tax, financing, and financial benefits that are best for the type of business you have.

Nolo has books, forms, and online applications to help you create your business entity and keep it running once you have decided on your legal structure. For a complete list of Nolo's small business products, see the Small Business Products page.

Find out how to organize your business with this chart, which shows the pros and cons of the different business entity forms--corporation, partnership, LLC, S corporation, sole proprietorship, and more.